Chapter 27

editor/TLC: serefina

On an auspicious day in May 2007, Zhang Qiming remarried. Zhang Hang received an invitation, but didn’t attend. Zhang Qiming may have continued trying to get his family to accept Zhang Hang, to recognize him as his son, but that was simply wishful thinking. On this kind of occasion, he really shouldn’t attend.

Zhang Hang’s life was quite boring, so he would often contact Xiao Ren. Xiao Ren’s family was away from home, so there was no one to cook. When he was on duty, he would just eat in his unit’s canteen, and instant noodles were staple food when off-duty. Occasionally, he would go out to eat spicy soup and rice noodles at Kaishi’s street stalls to improve his meals. His life was very rough. When he lived with Zhang Hang, the boy would make him breakfast, and both of them would go out to eat dinner together. After Zhang Hang left, Xiao Ren’s house immediately reverted back to a pigsty. To make matters worse, his new roommate was even more pig-like than he was. Within a few days, the pair of pigs were hospitalized for the stomach flu.

Zhang Hang heard about it and went to Xiao Ren’s house to visit him. When Lu Chengye reached the doorway, he was unwilling to enter the house. Crouching outside, he bit Zhang Hang’s pants leg. Zhang Hang didn’t want to go in either. Although he couldn’t see it, the smell was much worse than when he’d come the first time.

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Xiao Ren, dressed in pajamas, was unable to keep from smiling enthusiastically at Zhang Hang, who was standing outside. Lu Chengye had a particularly difficult time finding places to step on the floor of the house. It was only after he had crossed mountains and rivers that Zhang Hang was safely led to a bedroom.

“Big Black is so smart!” Xiao Ren sighed with feeling, then ran back to play his game. Zhang Hang thought he must not have been too sick to play with such fervor. After a few minutes of gameplay, Xiao Ren held the teenager’s hand and pressed it onto the mouse, instructing, “Don’t move the mouse and just click the left mouse button. Alternate pressing F2 and F3 with your left hand. I’ve already moved to a good position in this lane. You can switch between physical attacks and skills…hurk…”

Then, Lu Chengye was surprised to see Warrior Xiao rush to the bathroom to vomit, leaving the game to the blind Zhang Hang. Indeed, this was a warrior who wasted all his energy on playing a game!

After vomiting in the bathroom for ten minutes, Xiao Ren came back to see Zhang Hang still sitting on his computer chair. Big Black was on his hind legs with one paw on Zhang Hang’s leg, the other on the table. Then he heard Big Black let out a “woof”, and Zhang Hang rapidly clicked the mouse. Big Black barked twice and Zhang Hang pressed F2, then barked twice more and Zhang Hang pressed F3. He went forward to have a look. Big Black’s paw was on the table? No, it was clearly on the WASD keys, and constantly moving! Dogs had four toes, but there was an additional small protruding toe under the paw pad. Big Black used that toe to press the keys with precision, then commanded Zhang Hang to release skills.

Xiao Ren: “…”

He quickly put on his headphones to hear the YY team leader laughing loudly. “Hahahahaha, Xiao Ren, you are so sharp today!”

Xiao Ren: “…”

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This kind of feeling of being compared to a dog… Big Black, you know that I won’t go out and tell anyone about your identity as a dog spirit so you’re acting arrogant, right? Hang Hang, don’t you think your dog is too amazing at playing games!?

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He then rushed off to the toilet again.

Zhang Hang couldn’t see, so was unable to continue playing after the match ended. Big Black directed Zhang Hang to leave the computer, then went out and bought Xiao Ren some congee to nourish his stomach.

Xiao Ren took the congee and struggled to swallow a mouthful, saying, “Throwing up gave me a sore throat, it’s all scratchy and hurts.”

Zhang Hang said with concern, “Brother Ren, you can’t keep eating like this. Your body won’t be able to last.”

“Ai, the unit canteen’s food is really disgusting. When I’m on duty, I have to endure eating it. When I’m off duty, I don’t want to even think about the flavor… My god, how does the chef make such good ingredients taste like pig feed?” Xiao Ren exclaimed.

“Does instant noodles taste better than the canteen food?” Zhang Hang asked. “This isn’t good for your health.”

“I can’t do anything, I’m just a bachelor. I have to hurry and marry a good wife. When my shitty new roommate moved in, he tricked me into a pit. I asked for rent and he wrote “share the meal expenses”. Then, the other day, he racked up 500 in meal expenses by ordering a pile of dishes in addition to the 500 yen of rent from when he moved in! What I obviously meant was for him to cook our meals and we would share the cost!” Xiao Ren hit the wall in pain. His roommate was messing with him!

“By the way,” Xiao Ren’s eyes suddenly brightened, “your home seems to be very close to mine, and you have someone who can help take care of my meals! That… can you… share a few meals with me? Hehehehe…”

Naturally Zhang Hang wouldn’t refuse this request. It wasn’t too much trouble to ask the aunt to cook a little extra. Xiao Ren had already eaten himself into the hospital. Before he got married and had someone to care for him, he still needed to eat well.

Lu Chengye thought of Xiao Ren as the one who took Zhang Hang in during his darkest time. Lu Chengye was also grateful for Xiao Ren and was willing to help him out in this way. However, he was a businessman, and wanted to benefit from this arrangement. Xiao Ren coming over for dinner was mutually beneficial. Recently, people in the community had pointed out to Zhang Hang that as a blind man, living alone with a dog was very unsafe. He couldn’t look through the peephole to see who was there, so casually opening the door was dangerous. But Xiao Ren was different. Sometimes he would head to work late in the morning and not change clothes after his shift, and could just come directly to their house for dinner. As time passed, people in the community would realize that this household had a police friend and was not easy to provoke. It would also be good for Zhang Hang.

But…

“That… Brother Black,” Xiao Ren, with a righteous expression, went to Big Black’s side and spoke in a flattering tone. “You see, I’ve kept this secret of you being a dog spirit for a very long time. Courtesy demands reciprocity. Look, I’ll take my computer to your house, and you can teach me a couple tricks. Maybe positioning or something… hurk!”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Zhang Hang and Lu Chengye: “…”

Lu Chengye had never admired anyone in his life. But today, he truly admired this man who wasted his life playing games. He worked very hard at it, so why was he still such a newbie?!

In this manner, when Xiao Ren wasn’t on duty, he would go to Zhang Hang’s house for meals. Each morning on their morning run, Lu Chengye found that the surrounding people who would point at Zhang Hang lessened. He was very satisfied with the role Xiao Ren was playing. After all, Chinese people were still afraid of the police. If there was a bully in the neighborhood who wanted to cause trouble for Zhang Hang, they would think twice about it.

They gradually transitioned into summer, and since the marriage, Zhang Qiming visited significantly less often. Before he got married, he would come to see Zhang Hang once or twice a week. Afterwards, he only managed to find time to visit Zhang Hang after returning from his honeymoon. He glowed with health and spoke confidently. Itseemed that his new family had helped him to escape the shadow of his previous marriage, and his new wife’s attitude finally made him feel like a husband. He was happy, and Zhang Hang was happy. After Zhang Qiming left, Zhang Hang held Big Black and said he had been looking forward to a little brother or sister for a long time. However, Lu Chengye didn’t expect much.

Sure enough, Zhang Qiming had become a person who specialized in making money for his son, and visited less often. Only the money deposited into Zhang Hang’s bank account each month proved that he was still alive. Even when Zhang Hang completed his one-year preparatory course exam, he wasn’t there.

According to his own ideas, Zhang Hang chose a vocational high school. He was 17 years old. Studying material for both sophomore and junior year and then attending university abroad was too much of a burden to bear. He didn’t want to drag people down for this long, so was better to enter a vocational high school. There were two-year classes and three-year classes. After finishing one’s studies, one could directly enter the workforce. When choosing a major, Zhang Hang hesitated for a moment. He took the cards for three different majors home, then put them under Big Black’s nose and said with a smile, “Big Black should take a look at the majors. Help me pick one.”

Masseuse, tuner, and bartender were the specialities selected according to blind people’s strengths in touch, hearing, and taste respectively.

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“Right now, masseuse would be the fastest to learn, and it would be easy to find a job. Blind masseuses are very popular. For becoming a tuner, I have consulted a teacher and they said that I would work at a piano manufacturer or a concert hall. In other words, wherever there is a piano, there needs to be a tuner. If I gain a little bit of fame, I will get a high base pay just for joining a piano manufacturer, and if I go along for concerts, I will get big bonuses. It’s relatively easy work, but there is a very high demand for talent, and it isn’t easy to become well known. If I have no fame, not only is it hard to find a job, but any jobs I do find will be low salary. Being a bartender is similar to a tuner in terms of the talent required, but it’s much easier to find a job. Even if I can’t find a job in a bar, I can start out as an apprentice and still get paid a lot. I’m confident that I can remember all the basic flavors of alcohols.” Zhang Hang touched a card with Braille on it and said, “I’m leaning towards being a masseuse. It’s easy to find a job, and you make a lot of money. Then I wouldn’t need to bother my father anymore.”

Master, pressing and rubbing! Lu Chengye’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets!

Was that the sort of profession where a guest would be nude with only a towel covering their ass? And use his hands to touch and stroke other people’s naked bodies in order to take advantage of others? That was what Hang Hang wanted to do the most? No way, absolutely not! He knew what kind of massage would make the most money. Full-body! And the masseuse had to stick their entire body against the customer… No, Lu Chengye didn’t want to picture the image of Hang Hang massaging people. Just imagining it made him want to bite someone, okay?!

As a result, he decisively rushed over, grabbed the masseuse card, and chewed it to bits!

Zhang Hang asked, “What about tuner and bartender?”

Bartender… was that the sort of industry in which Hang Hang would wear a slim suit and vest that perfectly outlined his beautiful figure and hips? Where, in the smoky atmosphere, at the bar he would show off his dazzling wine-making techniques, constantly being watched by a pack of drooling wild wolves and femme fatales?

Big Black pounced and threw the bartender’s card into the trash can.

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Zhang Hang: “…”

Although he disagreed with Big Black, he hadn’t liked it as much as the masseuse. There was still one choice remaining.

“Then… I’ll try to learn to be a tuner first.” Zhang Hang held the card in his arms away from Big Black. “You can’t tear this one!”

Lu Chengye glanced at the card and thought about the tuner profession. It seemed that all of them were behind-the-scenes workers. He reluctantly nodded, then realized Zhang Hang couldn’t see it, so he let out a vigorous “woof”.

“Hahaha… how are you so cute!” Zhang Hang laughed happily at Big Black’s bark, then hugged Lu Chengye and kissed him once on the forehead.

Big Black’s ears moved and his tail wagged joyfully.

sere: the vinegar is strong in this one. Also gamer doggo lmaobear: mfw a dog is better at video games than me (๏㉨๏)